Favoritos de origamilevi

First iNaturalist record.

With Graham Armstrong, Pete Ellis, Steve Guy, Guy Langan, Paul Harvey, Phil Heath, Ian Lewis.

Seen for more than an hour after dawn, in a small loose group of Eur. Curlews, feeding in a short-grass field on the south side of the main lake. This was "limpy" - the bird that had been shot about 3 weeks earlier, but seemed to make a recovery.

This location is the last known wintering site for this species. The last record from here was in February 1995.

Here is a link to the last video taken at this site, in January 1995:

http://www.hbw.com/ibc/video/slender-billed-curlew-numenius-tenuirostris/bird-foraging-short-grass

Spotted basking on a log off the north dike along with 30 Painted Turtles. Other turtles (many; 50+) in the area were checked with the aid of binoculars, but this was the only Pond Slider identified. The turtle was larger than the largest Painted Turtle present at the time; higher, more sculpted carapace; thin yellow vertical line on costal scutes (nos. 1 and 2); underside of marginal scutes yellow with dark ocelli markings; and dull red post-ocular "ear" patch. Most likely this is a released pet.

All photos taken from outside the restricted area.

I believe all photos show the same Spiny Softshell Turtle and most photos also include a Map Turtle. They changed sunning rocks during the time I watched. In photo #3 just the head of the Map Turtle shows above the water at the upper right.